Following the furore over an e-mail to alumni asking ‘Hindu brothers and sisters to change the location of Gyanvapi mosque to Gyanvapi temple on Google Maps’, New Horizon Public School in Bengaluru has released a statement saying that the school ‘embraces diversity’ and the ‘e-mail was sent without proper screening that is required of all our email communication’.
The email was sent to alumni three days ago. It gave detailed instructions on how to change the location of Gyanvapi mosque to Gyanvapi temple in Varanasi. Many alumni had criticised the school for the email on social media platforms.
Suraj Sudarshan said, “As a school, you should be promoting secularism! You should not be sending out sensitive mails like this.”
Karthika Namboothiri said, “My former school in Bengaluru has the audacity to send us emails to fan religious hatred and division. I am ashamed of them.”
Many alumni had come down heavily on using the educational institution as a platform for political activity, especially divisive communal politics.
“...This email shows a turn into hard Hindutva that’s unsafe for all,” tweeted independent journalist Rohini Mohan, also an alumnus of the school.
“The email I got was very disturbing, and I have written back to the school condemning the same,” said a senior advocate and alumni of the school.
The official Instagram page of the school, where the institution posted the clarification about the email on May 23 night, also has posts which indicate that a mandatory screening of the film Kashmir Files was organised for its staff in March 2022, and tickets were organised for all students. Among other things, the school had posted celebratory messages about ‘Ram Mandir’ and its ‘Bhoomi Puja; in August 2020.
The clarification issued on Instagram stated: “We take pride in the cultural and religious diversity of India. We practice the same in letter and spirit every day with everything we do at our school.”
